Society
NELFUND: “Opinion Is Not Fact” — Ogra Urges NBC to Check Declining Broadcast Standards
that broadcasters had a responsibility to distinguish clearly between fact, allegation and opinion.
Senior Presidential aide, O’tega Ogra, has urged the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, to take a closer look at what he described as the declining standards of broadcast journalism in Nigeria.
Ogra made the call while reacting to a recent interview on a major broadcast station, where he alleged that conjecture concerning the Nigeria Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, was presented to viewers as established fact.
In a notice addressed to the NBC, Ogra said the issue went beyond robust interviewing or editorial opinion, arguing that broadcasters had a responsibility to distinguish clearly between fact, allegation and opinion.
He said: “Opinion Is Not Fact,” stressing that statements concerning public institutions and the use of public funds should be subjected to appropriate verification before being presented to millions of viewers as facts.
According to him, assertions that were readily verifiable were allowed to stand during the interview without sufficient evidence, proper challenge or adequate context.
“This goes beyond robust interviewing or editorial opinion,” Ogra said.
He added that when claims concerning a public institution and public funds were presented as facts, “broadcasters have a responsibility to establish their accuracy.”
Ogra expressed concern that the standard appeared to be slipping across the broadcast industry, warning against a situation where opinion and conjecture become routinely presented as established fact.
“The Broadcasting Code exists precisely because the distinction between fact, allegation and opinion matters,” the professional in government stated.
He therefore called on the NBC to review the broadcast against relevant provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, saying regulatory intervention was necessary to prevent the erosion of professional standards from becoming the norm.
The face of President Bola Tinubu’s New media strategy also disclosed that he had prepared a more detailed memorandum which would be sent to the commission, outlining specific instances and practices which, in his view, were doing more harm than good to the broadcast industry.
He said the memorandum would provide further details on the concerns raised and contribute to the broader conversation on professional standards and responsible broadcasting in Nigeria.
